Where Would the Water Come From for the Southwest Connection?
- Fight FM150
- Jul 25
- 5 min read
A plain-language water guide for Dripping Springs / Hays County residents · drought emergency · limited wholesale capacity · unanswered supply path for this corridor
40% Required cutback under Emergency drought | 7,000 City's yearly wholesale home-equivalents cap | 3,393 Anarene / Double L (northeast — if pipes get built) | Paused New commercial water applications (since Mar 2026) |
The short answer
The Southwest Connection is still in design. Construction is not funded. Even so, there is no public answer yet for which utility would eventually serve denser development along this corridor, from what source, and under which shortage rules — even if that answer is "none identified yet." New large wells are largely frozen, and the treated-water growth plans that do exist point northeast along US 290.
Today's public record answers more clearly by what is missing than by what is mapped:
Possible source | Status today | What records show |
Drill new wells | Mostly blocked right now | Groundwater district is in Emergency drought — not accepting new large-well permits |
Regional treated water (via US 290) | Aimed northeast of town | Documented growth planning points to Anarene / Wild Ridge / Fitzhugh — not a published path for the southwest Onion Creek cut |
Local Dripping Springs water co-op | City-area only | Serves the town core from wells + a limited wholesale tap — no published plan for this corridor |
Environmental groups (Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance and partners, August 2024) wrote that the project is "clearly intended to serve new, sprawl development in the upper Onion Creek watershed where there is no supporting water or sewer infrastructure…"
What would count as an answer
At this stage, the useful public answer is short: provider, source, and rough timing relative to construction — before more design and right-of-way dollars keep priming land whose denser future may be wet-utility blocked under today's drought and wholesale limits.
Option 1 — Just drill more wells?
The local groundwater district (Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District) manages underground water in western Hays County, including the Dripping Springs area. As of mid-2026 it is in Emergency drought. The district says wells are "failing at an unprecedented rate," and it is not accepting new permits for large production wells or new non-exempt well construction until conditions improve.
Whole district 40% Required cutback for permitted large users | Jacobs Well area 30% Extra cutback in the Jacobs Well protection zone | New subdivision wells Frozen New large-well permits not being accepted |
Source: haysgroundwater.com. The freeze is about new large production wells during Emergency drought.
Option 2 — Bring in treated surface water?
Most large new subdivisions around Dripping Springs get water from a regional utility — the West Travis County Public Utility Agency — which pulls raw water from the Colorado River system (Lake Austin contracts with the Lower Colorado River Authority), treats it at the Uplands plant near Bee Cave, and pipes it out along Highway 71 and US 290.
In utility planning, demand is often counted in "living unit equivalents" — roughly one household's worth of water. Those show up below as home-equivalents.
Where the regional utility says growth water is going
The same planning study lists growth toward the Dripping Springs area, US 290, Ranch Road 1826, and Fitzhugh Road (plus Nutty Brown). Future lines are described from Hamilton Pool Road south toward Fitzhugh. That list does not name the Southwest Connection, Creek Road, or a southwest Onion Creek growth cut.
Area named in the plan | What that means |
Dripping Springs area | Called out in the regional utility's planning text |
US 290 corridor | Main growth spine for the regional water system |
Ranch Road 1826 | Listed with Dripping Springs / 290 / Fitzhugh |
Fitzhugh Road | Future lines described from Hamilton Pool toward Fitzhugh |
Nutty Brown Road | Also listed (including new commercial growth) |
At a December 2024 board meeting, the utility's engineer said about two-thirds of connections sit on the US 290 system, with capital projects aimed at Dripping Springs — including a cross-country transmission line and a new elevated storage tank (water tower) for the area.
Northeast of town — what a documented water answer looks like
Big projects north and northeast of US 290 — Anarene / Double L, Wild Ridge, Cannon Ranch — are much further along than the Southwest Connection. They show what a documented water answer looks like when growth is actually on the table: a master water plan, LUE caps, CIP contingencies, and planning maps. Anarene's full ask is up to 3,393 home-equivalents, contingent on pipes, pumps, storage, and plant upgrades. The southwest corridor is earlier in the process — which makes a short public answer more useful than silence.
The City's wholesale contract with the regional utility
What the contract says | In plain English |
What the utility delivers | Surface water, treated, handed off at City delivery points |
Yearly supply ceiling | Water for about 7,000 homes |
River-water reservation | 2,438 acre-feet per year from the Lower Colorado River Authority |
Where the planning maps show that water going | Northeast Dripping Springs (Anarene, Wild Ridge, Cannon, etc.) and a Driftwood area sheet — not the Southwest Connection |
Southwest Connection on those maps? | No |
Even the documented path is under strain
Since March 26, 2026, the regional utility has stopped processing most new commercial requests to extend water service. Applications go on a waiting list until the agency locks more water-supply contracts. Getting in line does not guarantee service. That matters for any future southwest density path that would depend on the same wholesale system.
Option 3 — The local Dripping Springs water co-op?
Dripping Springs Water Supply Corporation is the member-owned utility that serves much of the city. It mixes local Trinity Aquifer wells with treated water purchased from the regional agency. Its March 2024 system map shows a south wellfield of about 3.3 million gallons a day pumping capacity and a regional wholesale connection contracted at about 1.0 million gallons a day.
City planning interviews say the co-op has no immediate plans to expand its service territory, that its lines are at or near capacity, and that water will stay severely limited until more supply is secured. Its service maps center on the town / Ranch Road 12 / US 290 core — not a published plan for the full Southwest Connection cut toward upper Onion Creek.
Source: Area We Serve
Same officials, different maps
Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith co-sponsors the Southwest Connection on the county roads program and also sits as an officer on the regional water utility's board — the same board that negotiates the big wholesale water deals unlocking northeast growth. The utility's longtime consulting engineer appears throughout those board packets, and that firm's principal shows up in Smith's campaign finance record. That is a governance and access pattern — not proof that any gift bought a pipe.
Before more design dollars
Before more public money goes into design and right-of-way, residents can ask for a written answer: which utility would retail water along the preferred alignment, from what source, under which drought rules — or an explicit "none identified yet."
Sources
Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District · drought rules · permit forms
West Travis County Public Utility Agency — developer services · board of directors · Dec 2024 / Jan 2025 board packets
City–regional wholesale water contract (Public Utility Commission filing)
Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance et al. — August 2024 letter
Independent public-records synthesis for discussion. Not a utility engineering study or a claim of illegal conduct. "Home-equivalents" paraphrase the industry measure living unit equivalents (one household's worth of water).
